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Quick to Listen

Don’t Diminish Ravi Zacharias’s Abuse With ‘We’re All Sinners’

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3622 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2021

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. Last week, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries released a 12-page report about its founder and namesake. It confirmed “abuse by Zacharias at day spas he owned in Atlanta and uncovers five additional victims in the US, as well as evidence of sexual abuse in Thailand, India, and Malaysia.” From CT’s reporting: Even a limited review of Zacharias’s old devices revealed contacts for more than 200 massage therapists in the US and Asia and hundreds of images of young women, including some that showed the women naked. Zacharias solicited and received photos until a few months before his death in May 2020 at age 74. Zacharias used tens of thousands of dollars of ministry funds dedicated to a “humanitarian effort” to pay four massage therapists, providing them housing, schooling, and monthly support for extended periods of time, according to investigators. One woman told the investigators that “after he arranged for the ministry to provide her with financial support, he required sex from her.” She called it rape. She said Zacharias “made her pray with him to thank God for the ‘opportunity’ they both received” and, as with other victims, “called her his ‘reward’ for living a life of service to God,” the report says. Zacharias warned the woman—a fellow believer—if she ever spoke out against him, she would be responsible for millions of souls lost when his reputation was damaged. As once again, we’ve learned the flagrantly sinful double life of a prominent Christian leader, we wanted to discuss how to discuss it in light of what we believe about grace, mercy, and sin. These principles, of course, are the bedrock of our Christian faith, but are especially ones we grapple with in light of Ash Wednesday.  Covenant College professor of theological studies Kelly Kapic joined global media manager Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss if all our sins are equally wicked to God, what it means to extend grace to a person you never met personally, and what it means to hold people accountable for their sins, especially after they’ve died. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Yvonne Su and Bunmi Ishola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.

0:11.1

Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.

0:14.5

Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.

0:22.0

Last week, Robbie Zacharias International Ministries released a 12-page report about its founder and

0:28.3

namesake. It confirmed, and I'm going to read from our reporting, quote, abuse by Zacharias

0:34.8

at day spas he owned in Atlanta and uncovers five additional victims in the US,

0:39.3

as well as evidence of sexual abuse in Thailand, India, and Malaysia.

0:43.3

All right, I'm going to continue reading from our reporting.

0:45.3

Even a limited view of Zacharias's old devices revealed contacts from more than 200 massage therapists in the US and Asia

0:52.3

and hundreds of images of young women, including

0:55.0

some that showed women naked. Zacharias solicited and received photos until a few months before

1:00.0

his death in May 2020 at age 74. Saccharis used tens of thousands of dollars of ministry funds

1:07.0

dedicated to a humanitarian effort to pay for massage therapists, providing them housing,

1:12.6

schooling, and monthly support for extended periods of time, according to investigators.

1:17.6

One woman told the investigators that, quote, after he arranged for the ministries to provide

1:22.4

her with financial support, he required sex from her.

1:25.9

She called it rape.

1:30.4

She said Zecharias, quote, made her pray with him to thank God for the opportunity they both received and as with victims called her his reward for living

1:37.2

a life of service to God. The report says, Zacharias warned the woman, a fellow believer. If she ever

1:43.6

spoke out against him, she would be responsible for millions of souls lost when his reputation was damaged.

1:49.6

We will have a link to our coverage of all of this in the show notes. Obviously, I think many of you have already read a lot of this online, but we just thought it was important

2:00.8

to kind of go over these details with you.

...

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